After Ohio State’s 30-24 loss to Michigan Saturday, many college football fans were wondering where Lou Holtz was.
In his postgame interview after the Buckeyes beat Notre Dame 17-14 in South Bend, Indiana, Ohio State coach Ryan Day called out the former OSU assistant and Notre Dame head coach after Holtz questioned his team’s toughness, saying ‘I’d like to know where Lou Holtz is right now.’
Holtz was not done talking about Ohio State.
‘Losing to Michigan three years in a row is not good,’ Holtz said to former ESPN staffer Mark May, according to ABC15 Arizona. ‘What a long ride home it must be. They aren’t real happy. Three years in a row we have lost to the University of Michigan.’
May responded by echoing Holtz’s thoughts, saying ‘(Day’s) got to be in hot water.’
Holtz then began to reminisce, remembering a similar meeting with Michigan in 1968: the year Holtz was on Woody Hayes’ coaching staff at Ohio State.
‘When I coached at Ohio State under Woody Hayes, we played Michigan under the same circumstances: the winner goes to the Rose Bowl, the winner has the chance to win a national championship,’ Holtz said. ‘Fortunately, we were the ones that were able to do it. We scored late in the game versus Michigan, went for two, made it, beat them 50-14. They asked Woody, ‘Why’d you go for two?’ He said, ‘Because they wouldn’t let me go for three.’ ‘
In an appearance on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ in September, Holtz called Notre Dame ‘a better football team than Ohio State’ before focusing his attention on Day.
‘You look at coach (Ryan) Day − and I coached at Ohio State under Woody Hayes,’ Holtz said. ‘We won the national championship when I was there. I’m proud of that. However, he has lost to Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Michigan twice. And everybody (that) beats him, does so because they are more physical than Ohio State. And I think Notre Dame will take that same approach.’
These comments riled up Day in his postgame interview after the Notre Dame game.
‘What he said about our team, what he said about our team, I cannot believe. This is a tough team right here. We’re proud to be from Ohio and it’s always been Ohio against the world. And it will continue to be Ohio against the world. But I tell you: I love those kids and we have a tough team.
‘Everybody’s questioning these kids all the time. We had one bad half the last couple years. That’s it. Everybody wants to question these guys. These guys are warriors that can win. … I’m emotional about this for a reason. A lot of people question these kids and say a lot about them. And I love them. When someone attacks your family, to come in and win is special. It’s a great win for our program and a great win for Ohio State.’
Ohio State’s three-game losing streak against Michigan is its first since 1995-97.